In a new interview for the Denver Post, vocalist SAMMY HAGAR (CHICKENFOOT, ex-VAN HALEN) commented on a Rolling Stone report that his former bandmates and singer David Lee Roth were at each other's throats, which has prompted upcoming Van Halen summer tour dates to be postponed (details here). Following is an expcerpt from the interview:

Right now, Sammy Hagar is awfully glad he's not in Van Halen anymore.

The legendary rock band he led for more than a decade after replacing David Lee Roth in 1986 launched a tour in February with Roth back at the helm. But Van Halen on Thursday postponed dozens of shows this summer that had been scheduled for months, without giving a reason.

Hagar thinks he knows why.

"They're hard people to get along with, those brothers," Hagar told The Associated Press on Friday. "Otherwise I'd still be in the band.

"I'm surprised it took this long" for the tour to experience major difficulties, he added. "I predicted this was going to happen a lot sooner. I lost money on that bet!"

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In the wake of the reports that Van Halen is on the outs with Roth, the Van Halen News Desk issued the following update regarding the band's postponed tour:

"First off, no one in the band is sick. No health problems. Second, we knew right away that Rolling Stone’s “source” is completely wrong, and can not possibly be a person with actual inside knowledge of the tour, because all four band members have been getting along splendidly throughout the entire tour. Roth and the Van Halen’s talk every day, and they are all smiles on stage. Everyone who’s seen the tour or even youtube videos can confirm that.

In fact, the band is on such a high from playing together this year and they were really taken aback by the Rolling Stone quote. They’re older and wiser and haven’t had any issues with one another.

Why were these dates postponed? The band has been working tirelessly for the last 18 months – writing and recording A Different Kind Of Truth, filming the 'Tattoo' video, rehearsing, putting together the show themselves (lighting, the videos, the stage, routing the tour, and lots of behind the scenes stuff that most people don’t even know about). The band wants the second leg to be as awesome as the first. And for that to happen they want to put more time into the planning of it. Not just continue on with the same show.

Van Halen is very enthusiastic about the rest of the tour and wants be on the road for a long time. Just how long remains to be seen, but we’ll say that the tour will probably continue into next year. They are now considering touring Australia and Japan in the near future.

As it stands now, the 31 postponed US shows are due to be rescheduled. There should be some sort of official announcement forthcoming."